Tua Tagovailoa isn’t helping the Miami Dolphins situation as their season continues to spiral downward. In fact, instead of putting out the dumpster fire that is that team, he’s pouring gasoline on it while striking yet another match to continue to spread the fire. He should be the one that smooths things over.
Yet, the last two times he got up in front of media members to address the state of this team, he’s contradicted himself. After the Dolphins’ fifth loss of the season, he essentially said players need to start being accountable and ambiguously called out players for missing player only meetings. Only to then say a few days later, people shouldn’t be pointing fingers.
“You get to see who a person really is as you go through hardships. You get to see, does this person start pointing fingers, does this person take it upon themselves every time; how does everybody go about that,” Tagovailoa said as he addressed media members. “... I would say there hasn’t been any bickering or pointing of fingers.”
Hmm, he must have short term memory loss because calling players out for missing players-only meetings sounds like pointing fingers. All he’s doing is orchestrating the inevitable demolition that is heading toward the Dolphins franchise. This isn’t just players that are going to inevitably get traded over the next few weeks, either; Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer are very much in the crosshairs too.
Predicting when the Dolphins demolition will begin as Tua Tagovailoa strikes yet another match
The Dolphins might be in a position to just tear the whole thing down and start over again, but there are two questions that come with that; first, when does it happen? After Tagovailoa’s fiery proclamation to hold his teammates accountable, it feels like the end of this era of the Dolphins is near.
Miami plays the Cleveland Browns this week and truthfully, they could lose again. If Miami loses to the Browns, it will trigger the first stage of Miami’s remodel. The NFL trade deadline is in a few weeks so if things don’t change this week after Tagovailoa’s call to action, then they’ll have no choice but to start making changes.
The Dolphins can’t continue to wait around and hope things will get better. They haven’t made the playoffs the last two seasons and it’s safe to say they are probably out of contention this year as well. In what was supposed to be a flourishing tenure under McDaniel, it’s turned dreadful.
They can’t continue to wait around for things to change when the inevitable is near. Truthfully, even a win against the Browns won’t save this team because they have the Atlanta Falcons and then Baltimore Ravens after that before the deadline. After the deadline, they have to play the Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills again, do we really think they’re going to win five straight and get above .500 in the next month?
Predicting who will be casualties of the Miami’s pending demolition job
The next question becomes who will be the casualties of the teams drastic effort to rebuild and start over. I think it’s safe to say that Jaylen Waddle will be a prime target as he’s the team’s biggest playmaker at this point with Tyreek Hill out. De’Von Achane is another name that could ultimately be traded for draft capital, especially with several teams needing a starting running back.
Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb are also two other names that have been floated as possible trade candidates. I’m sure there could be more, but these four players will probably land with a new team. They’re all part of phase one of Miami tearing this thing down and redoing it. The next phase is ridding themselves of McDaniel and Greer.
With how bad things have gone, McDaniel and Greer have to be in consideration as well. With McDaniel, it feels like he’s just not the one to turn things around. When he took over Miami, they essentially had all the pieces, they just needed a coach with McDaniel’s mind. Now that it has failed, it just doesn’t make sense to retain him when it’s clear Miami has already reached its peak with him.
As for Greer, well he’s been under scrutiny for years and highlighted with re-signing Tagovailoa, it’s fair to say that he’s probably done all he can do to improve this team. If Miami wants to move on, they have to clean house. As we learned from this last coaching cycle, most coaches want a new general manager, not one from a failed regime. If the Dolphins do fire sale and gut this roster, you have to think after this season, McDaniel and Greer are just as much out as well.